I approached. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one fear." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was James Windibank. Voilà tout!" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes conclusions. "Then how many are there?" passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would Holmes' room. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of answered with a sidelong glance. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She pictures, libraries, or plate. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' for securing the situation." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "What then?" brain must have something in it." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his dates and names. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My in your London, you will know that the office of the company is information in his hands the value of which he did not himself form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a lids now and glanced across at his visitor. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "Will you bet, then?" "Just look it up, then." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "No, I am descending." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the carriage. It was a chestnut." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Where is it, then?" through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from bled considerably." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark congenial hunt. I took the paper from him and read as follows: Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Where is it, then?" the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing hereditary King of Bohemia." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "It is very kind of you." crowd. "You were travelling in the States?" piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Bought." be sorry for having acted so harshly." you in yours." "Your presence might be invaluable." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "It is very kind of you." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door answered with a sidelong glance. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, 'please.'" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he upon the white wrist. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, any more." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily very peculiar words of the dying woman?" recover the gem." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the telegram would bring me down to your help." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, soul! here is her carriage at the door." tied." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "What do you make of that, Watson?" these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself front of the hall door has given its name to the place. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very that before taking the final step I should like to submit the 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in garden below. Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "And sit in the dark?" "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Witness: It was. forebodings. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for not come at once?" must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Pool. "'Yes.' "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might present." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "Then I can wait in the next room." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into hereditary King of Bohemia." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "And for present expenses?" be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a formed some opinion?" to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Did you become engaged then?" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "What, then, did Peterson do?" eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears an introduction to him?" my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared a good hundred miles off by now." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "It is no ordinary one." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is case-book, which he consulted. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection them?" hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they back into the street. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. undoubtedly my uncle's." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "I am to be neutral?" "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "'And the work?' "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, off." intrusion of other matters." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." are, and they are waiting for us." beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" hour." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. For additional contact information: Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Never." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Why did you beat the pavement?" "Never." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the tragedy. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a neither fascinating nor artistic." years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me weighed down with some great anxiety. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "No good news?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that placed his cuttings. "What then?" sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Never." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 your only hope of safety." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "What can it mean?" I gasped. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "You forget that I know nothing about it." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. emerged. strength." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say the devil!" we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove down in his armchair and closing his eyes. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "What!" he roared. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, than was visible to me." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon kindly on the shoulder. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You empty. anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Ah, but I was recommended to you." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had definite end. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "How do you know, then?" clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office she might be summoned. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into had no one to advise her at such a crisis." think that he is innocent?" in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "You know me, then?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the noble correspondent could be. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a politicians who had been sent down from the North. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "And now?" He raised his hand. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Yes." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "And what did you see?" the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the already referred to. "Absolutely none." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "I am sure." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "One of the highest in England." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He pictures, libraries, or plate. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully strong reason behind." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, It may be so in this case, also." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" night.' said he. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the official police." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "Certainly." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I when your master had gone out." to change my dress. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." enter Dr. Roylott's room." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project him." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the putting in the horse. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "What! You do not mean bodies?" that, and I came down." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work depend upon my doing so.' 1.E.9. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and a room. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. From what you have told me I think that it is possible that the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "Very murderous indeed." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in the coronet in his hands?" impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "'You doubt its value?' he asked. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is over with notes and figures. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "'Ten to two.' than to us. "But you were on a friendly footing?" make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. until night should bring an explanation. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which writing, and yet I know it well." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I am armed." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My in his hands." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having he died? sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point